200-Mile EV Motorcycles May Be Coming Soon
As good as EV motorcycles have gotten in the past few years, the next breakthrough should make them more appealing to traditional gas motorcyclists that enjoy long-d distanceance touring. If you’re a regular EV rider viewer, chances are pretty good you know some fellow motorcyclists who say they’d never consider an EV because of the shorter range and charging limitations. And while that’s been a fair criticism, it appears we’re about to see some technical breakthroughs leave the labs and head to the assembly lines that will finally put that argument to rest. The most exciting developments come from Ducatti and Volkswagen along with Ferris, which supplies batteries for Zero, and Samsung, which has supplied some batteries for LiveWire. Let’s start with Volkswagen in Ducati. They unveiled a solid state battery at the IAA mobility trade show in Munich that will debut in Ducati’s V2 ILIL electric racing bike. Ducatti ZV, which isn’t available as a street bike, has been used in Moto E World Cup since 2023. The current bike has an 18 kWh battery with 20 kowatt DC charging. While Ducatti didn’t announce specs, you can expect a much better power density from solid state. And then there is this nugget that Ducatti did announce. The new pack will charge from 10 to 80% in under 13 minutes. In addition to having more power density, solid state batteries also ditch some components like liquid electrolytes, which means you can also expect significant weight savings. Then there’s Ferris Energy, which supplied the pouches in this Zero SRF’s battery pack. At this year’s China International Battery Fair, Ferris announced it has a semi-olidstate battery solution for motorcycles that promises to balance cost and performance. That likely means we’ll see a significant range and charging speed jumps when the nextG zeros are announced, perhaps as early as 2028. By the way, that’s my own speculation. That’s not been confirmed by Zero. Zero’s last battery jump was in 2022 when its largest pack went from 14.4 to 17.3 kwatt hours. Next up is LiveWire, which is owned by Harley-Davidson. Currently, the largest battery available in a live wire is the ones 15.5 kilowatt hour pack, which has cells provided by Samsung. Samsung is also working on solidstate batteries with plans to get them into mass production in 2027. Livewire also recently trademarked the S4 honcho name. In its original product road map, LiveWire indicated its upcoming S4 motorcycle would be a heavyweight, implying it would have the biggest battery in the lineup. However, before getting too excited, it is important to note that LiveWire moved away from Samsung cells for its trio of S2 models, and neither Livewire or Samsung has confirmed any plan for another joint battery project. Then there’s tiny boutique California motorcycle maker Lightning, which has been working with the Enuvate battery company. They claim to now have a lithium ion 24 kWh battery pack that can add 135 mi of range in less than 10 minutes when DC charging. Lightning is making some lofty claims, saying the new battery is good for 160 m at 70 mph. The solid state battery that Ducatti is showing off would likely do even better, perhaps surpassing 200 interstate miles. To put it all into perspective, [Music] the current record holder in terms of a battery that is actually on roads, the Enerica Experius 22.5 kWh pack is good for roughly 120 or so miles of interstate travel. And Verge isn’t far behind with its 21.8 kowatth battery option. Of course, EV motorcycle fans have seen overly optimistic promises before, but what makes this time different is the claims are being made by established players. Plus, major automakers like Mercedes, Stalantis, and Toyota have also announced solid state batteries are much closer to being production ready. Put it all together and it likely means the dream of a true fast charging 200 mile EV motorcycle is closer than ever. If you enjoyed this episode of EV Rider, please go ahead and give this video a like, hit subscribe, and that notification bell so I can bring you more adventures in EV motorcycleycling. Thanks so much for watching and we’ll see you again soon.
A slew of of recent announcements from battery suppliers for Ducati, Zero, LiveWire and others points to what may be the breakthrough needed for EV motorcycles to finally become true, long-distance touring powerhouses.
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Editorial disclosure: The motorcycle pictured in the upper right hand side of the video thumbnail graphic is a rendering generated by AI.
